Jung, Superheros and Us

              Lewis Carroll once wrote "“I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!” in his book Alice in Wonderland.

In comparison, Carl Jung had said "It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves".

One may wonder how the two are related, and the answer is quite simple: as human beings, we are bound to look at ourselves and wonder who we are, what we are, and why we are. There is always some level of self examination, but this blog is to focus on the who we are when we are in certain situations. Jung argued that there are at least four archetypes that human beings exhibit: The Persona (conscious), followed by the unconscious: Shadow, Anima and Animus, and Self. There is also the ego/bridge between the conscious, which is the mediator between what we are versus who we are. Very quickly, the follow is an overview of each Jung's unconscious.

The Shadow is our unconscious, the side that we know about but that we really don't know. It is what stays below our conscious, and keeps our "true feelings" hidden. Carl Jung argued that the Shadow presented itself in our dreams, both night and day, and that if we were to embrace it, there would be harmony, but shun it and we become split. Some may argue that conscious manifestations of the Shadow are in dazed, confused, or panic attack type states when the Shadow can readily move between states of self.

 

The Anima and Animus are thought to be within our subconscious. It is our balance of "good and evil", the difference between our inner and outer selves, etc. It is the idea of the "soul". It is more comparable to Freud's idea of the Ego. However, Jung differs in that his approach is a balance of male and female energies versus just a simply filter between our rational and basal needs. The animus wants to unite shadow and self, whereas the female anima keeps the animus from allowing the two to bridge completely. 

 

The Self also comparable to Lacan's The Real the combination of all our aspects that integrates within the universe. We never really understand it, but we sense that we are interlinked to other people, and that sense is what conforms us to one another. It could be argued that when one achieves this state they have passed through to the Matrix (pop culture reference) or Nirvana and have found their complete conscious/unconscious balance. 

 

The bridge of the The Ego separates the these from our conscious selves that Jung has deemed our Persona. The Persona is made up of different "masks" that we wear in order to appear a certain way to other people and is not who we are, but best represents the when, why, how and pieces of the what we are. 

The easiest way to describe what Jung was describing when it comes to Masks would be to talk about the modern Superhero. There are several examples, but let's take a look at Rorschach from the Watchmen. He is a character who believes that his face is the mask he wears. He exemplifies the quote from Lewis Carroll above when he describes his transformation from Walter Kovacs into Rorschach as seen in this video (WARNING, this is GRAPHIC)

In less extreme examples, we change. Our personalities or masks vary from situation to situation. The way someone presents themselves to an employer is far more different then how they will be around their friends, which differs from family, etc. We are a collected set of professional, personal, and private lives. We hide the things society may see as less desirable, and put forth what we think people want to see. The same goes for social media. We hide things we don't want everyone to see through privacy settings, and there has been a fair amount of people taking down some networking sites to avoid what they think their employers may see. There are professional sites like LinkedIn to make us seem more attractive to new job possibilities. Twitter, Facebook, dating sites, fetish websites, they are all being used to attract different types of people and to advertise ourselves to the world. 

 

However, you wouldn't post that you have a foot fetish on your Facebook or LinkedIn unless you are going for a certain type of job that requires you to have such a fetish, but you also probably won't post all of your ideas for updating your Linux system to your drinking buddies unless they are also your tech friends.

 

 

All that being said, Jung's theory of the Persona, and archetypes argue that we hide parts of ourselves to appear a certain way, and with the development of new technologies people are having to tread more lightly with these ideals because they can cause us to destruct with an over sharing of whatever we choose to put online. The point is, we have to be discriminate and know who we are before we decide to post about what we are.   

The Ultimate Link: Semiotics and Marketing

Semiotics, where we derive meaning from symbols and the relationships we have within our culture, religion, feeling of nationalism, etc. Semiotics worm their way into our minds and can be used to influence us to go one way or another. So, what could this have to do with marketing?

EVERYTHING

In marketing, the whole point is to sell to the masses. There is only one way in which this possible, and that is to understand who your target is.
Example (women):

Just throwing this one out here. Nail polish, there are many different types and some appear to be better than others, but what does this one particular ad "say" to a consumer? Exclude the nail polish (signifier) and look at everything that is pointing to it. There is, quite obviously, a set of script letters that state "Nail Polish Love" which draw your eyes in not one, but three directions. On either side of this script are "shiny objects" one of which just so happens to be an engagement ring. The bright piece of this, interestingly enough, is the woman's slightly curved lips that are just close enough to a smirk. Now, people may disagree with my assessment on this, but any and every time I see slightly curved lips, I see the "I am better than you" smirk with just a hint of a challenge or secrecy. This whole ad points to the idea that this nail polish either makes this woman better than you because she is loved or has love due to this polish OR that you will get love if you love on this polish.

Just an example of how marketing ploys sort of target the baser human needs to be loved and to accept a challenge from some unknown "superior".

Marketing thrives on the use of semiotics. Morgan Spurlock exemplifies how this happens on TedTalks. 
Enjoy if you choose, it is about a twenty minute video, and he goes through how and why some advertising works versus why others do not.

I leave with this thought: Advertising+no semiotics= No ads, no sell point, no nada.

Hermeneutics: All Around Us

Hermeneutics, what is it? Why is it that every time I stop to think about the word, the first thought is "for a word that is the study of interpretation, why is it so hard to spell"? Then, it hit me. If someone were to say that word to five people, it is very likely that there would be five different spellings, but not because it is a difficult word to spell, but because how we hear words and have different ways of spelling them. Think about it, off hand there is the instant breakdown of "Her-men-oo-tics", or "Her-man-u-ticks" among the several variations, and believe it or not, this actually has a point.

The first of the five Hermeneutics that will be discussed is Natural. What has been described above is a very over generalized and rough idea as to what is meant by Natural Hermeneutics. Put simply, it is how people interpret the world around them. Most of the time it seems simple, almost meaningless, until it is put into context. Think about any event that was experienced with other people and then try and see that same event from someone else who was there. Even better, think of how someone who is being told about that event could be interpreting it.

The second of these Hermeneutics is Normative. Doctors, lawyers, etc more known as people who understand a technical language and make it so "regular people" can understand it. Example: you go to your doctor and tell them of your symptoms. The doctor listens, thinks about it, may send you for more tests, but eventually, they come back to you with a diagnosis and treatment plan. Doctors are able to see technical language, interpret it, and relay it to people on an every day basis. Lawyers look at documentation constantly that would make the common man wonder if it were in gibberish, yet when the lawyer talks to man X about what it says, the lawyer can put it into words and sentences that make sense, and when they don't, there are other ways to put it even simpler. In other words, this form doesn't come naturally to people, it has to be worked on and kept on top of.

Scientific Hermeneutics are the basis and foundation for the scientific approach to the world. It is how we look at the world in order to create experiments that lead to answers to the "big questions". Ideas like String Theory, Game Theory, etc come from. Basically, there is a question, and in order to figure out an answer, steps are taken, procedure is followed, experiments are made and then conclusions are come to. If these experiments are repeated and the same results happen, then eventually these results become laws or solidified as accepted rules or facts.

In nearly the completely opposite direction is Philosophical Hermeneutics. These focus on the WHO we are versus WHAT we do. It dives into the idea that we are interpreters and that interpreting is not something we do. In an overly simplified statement "It is not what we do, it is who we are".

Which leads to the idea of Depth Hermeneutics. These are the questions and the interpretations of what is beyond the physical human world. Freud referred to it as the unconscious, others have called it existentialism, and there are more theories as to why we are, what or what else is there to life. This piece of Hermeneutics begs the ideas of souls, afterlives, etc.

This is a fascinating area of study, and there is so much more that can be discussed. This blog will continue to be updated as it feels necessary to look further into these ideas.